Archive - June, 2012

I Want to …

June 26, 2012 in Bible, Christian Living, Goals with 3 Comments

I just started reading Steve Farrar’s book, “How to Ruin Your Life by 30″. I figured I would read it in order to help others – as I am well past 30.

I am only a couple chapters into the book, but am realizing he could just as well have entitled it “How to Ruin Your life by 40 … or 50 … or 60″ or more easily, “How to Ruin Your Life”. I plan to share some of his words of wisdom with you over these next several weeks.

Farrar shares a staggering story about John Bisagno. John had just recently graduated from college and had decided to go into full-time ministry. His father-in-law cautioned him to make sure he kept his relationship with God as a priority, as in his experience “out of every ten men who start strong with Christ in their twenties, only one out of those ten will finish strong.” This statement shocked me – and it shocked John as well. He was so stunned by these remarks that he wrote down the names of 24 of his friends, friends who were in their twenties and were living lives committed to Jesus Christ. Thirty two years later, only three of those men were still living their lives committed to Jesus, the majority of those men had ruined their lives before they even turned forty. (pages 24-26).

I found this story absolutely shocking and frightening. What am I doing today to keep me from being one of those “statistics”, those who fall away from what I want to become?

Farrar used this story to make the point that when you are young, you often times don’t think about what impact decisions have today on how you will finish 50-60 years down the road – cause and effect. He says, “Every young man or woman has an image in their head of who they will be in several years, but the image is hardly ever the natural outcome of the life they are living. The truth is that most young people are comforted with a future perception of themselves that is based on the solid evidence of nothing.” (p. 18)

This is as true for 70 year olds as it is for 20 year olds. Decisions today affect tomorrow. What you want to become is product of decisions made today and tomorrow and the next day … The question is, “What do you want to become?” Once you define that, it should guide your actions today.

The great thing about the faith in Christ is that when you mess up and realize you are heading down the wrong path, we have forgiveness and the ability to start over. Moses, David, Peter, Paul are biblical examples of this. Philippians 4:13-14 “Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in Jesus Christ.”

Again, the question is, “What do you want?”

Bailey is Married!

June 19, 2012 in Christian Living, The Kitchen Table with 7 Comments

I had the privilege of performing the wedding ceremony for my eldest daughter this past weekend.

While Bailey will always be our “baby”, things are now different. She is now under the care of another man, her husband – Michael.

As a father, this brings lots of mixed emotions.

I have concern. Can Michael possibly love Bailey as much as Stacy and I have loved Bailey? Can Michael possibly care for Bailey as much as Stacy and I have cared for Bailey? Can Michael possibly meet the needs of Bailey as much as Stacy and I have been able to meet her needs?

I have sorrow – not in Bailey’s getting married, but in the passage of time. Bailey and Michael got married at a camp where they both met and both attended and worked. I could look out the window of the chapel and see Bailey as a young 7 year old girl running around with her pig tails. Now, she was dressed in a beautiful white gown, preparing to move onto her next stage of life. Where have those years gone? Why did she grow up so fast? She was just a little girl sitting on my lap, now she is married. Amazing. If the next 22 years go by as fast as these past 22 … ugh …

I have pride. Bailey has turned into a beautiful young woman – beautiful both inside and out. I am proud of the woman she has become. She is very public about her faith and seeks to live a life that is honoring to God.

I have joy. Michael is a great guy. When he asked me if he could ask Bailey to marry him, I shared that Stacy and I really had two desires in the future spouse for our children. One is that they love Jesus. This is obvious in Michael’s life. He loves Jesus in both word and in deed. The second is that they love our child. We also see this in the way he interacts with Bailey. He truly loves her. So, we have joy that Michael is now part of our family and that he and Bailey are together. We are truly blessed and thankful. I could not imagine the pain and heartache if we did not approve of the man she were marrying!

The wedding ceremony was very emotional. I was not sure going into it how emotional it would be. I knew I was in trouble when I walked to the back of the church just prior to the wedding party processing in. Our youngest daughter, Charlsea (one of the maids of honor – with her sister Shelby) came up to me and said, “Dad, are you going to cry?” I couldn’t even speak to answer her. Words just wouldn’t come – just tears. In fact, I am getting teary right now just reliving this. Joy, sorrow, happiness, sadness – the whole gamut of the emotional spectrum.

Now their life as husband and wife begins. It will be fun to see them grow as a couple. They will have times of joy and times of heartache.

I would be interested in hearing from others who have had children get married. What emotions did you experience?

Here are a couple photos for you to enjoy:

What are you learning?

June 13, 2012 in Goals with 2 Comments

I had the privilege of having supper with a special lady Sunday evening, Dr. Frances Bartlett Kinne.

Dr. Kinne has quite an impressive resume. You can “Google” her and read more if you would like. She truly is an amazing lady!

My connections to Fran go back to 1984. Fran grew up in Story City, Iowa and gave an annual award to a high school senior in honor of her mother – the Bertha Bartlett Outstanding Senior Award. In 1984, I was blessed to receive this award. It came with some money to be used to help with college expenses – at that time a couple hundred dollars or so. Anyway, I was thankful for Fran’s generosity, so I wrote her a thank you note. It turns out that I was the first student that had ever sent her a thank you for this award. Anyway, to make a long story short, she reviewed my bio and credentials that were sent to her by our principal and then called me and offered me a full tuition scholarship for me to attend Jacksonville University. My parents and myself – along with my good friend, Craig Munsen, traveled to Jacksonville to visit the campus and get to know Dr. Kinne. During the visit, Fran increased the offer to also include room and board. Craig and I decided to attend JU and we got to know Fran very well.

I only stayed at JU for a year and a half. Looking back, it was probably a mistake to transfer from JU back to Iowa, but at that time I felt transferring was the right thing to do, and God used my time at both JU and at Wartburg (where I transferred) to mold me into whom I am today.

After leaving JU, I did a very poor job of keeping in contact with Fran. I would see her once in awhile when she would be back on a visit to Story City, but we rarely had the opportunity to spend much time together. So, this past Sunday was a blessing.

I have many fond memories of my time in JU and especially with Fran. There are a few things that she did that have stuck with me even to today. How she treated people (and still treats people) is amazing. She treats every person the same – with grace and friendliness. We would often drive with Fran and she always greeted the toll booth operators with a friendly smile and warm hello. Even as the president of the university, she knew the janitors and spent time with them. She really knows how to make people feel important!

She also told me once that every day she makes sure she does at least one thing that she doesn’t want to do – something that is hard and maybe not very comfortable. Maybe that is making that difficult phone call – or handling that hard chore.

As I walked her into the hotel lobby on Sunday night, she said something that really struck me. Fran is getting up and age – she is in her mid-90′s. Her health is good and mentally, she is amazing. She told me that she continually wants to keep learning. Her focus now is on better learning the Bible. I found this amazing – not that she wants to learn more about the Bible (although that is pretty cool), but the fact that in her mid-90′s she strives to keep learning. I am sure that is part of the reason she is as mentally sharp as she is.

I love to learn as well, but I know that is not the case for everyone. I know there are some people who, once they have graduated from high school or college, they stop seeking to learn. Granted people continue to learn throughout their life through experience, but I am talking about something more here. I am talking about intentionality. Do you have a plan to continue to increase your knowledge and understanding on a given topic? I believe it is imperative that you have a plan – and I am guessing Fran would agree with me!

What are you focused on learning at this stage in your life?